Good Persian food is something we eat too rarely in the Northeast, except when we’re lucky enough to visit Lala Rokh on Beacon Hill, with its mouth-puckering torshi (Iranian pickles) and gormeh sabzi (aromatic beef stew with dried limes). All too often Persian restaurants here in New York serve overcooked kebabs and not much else. But Persian cuisine is a wonderful thing, a bridge between what we call Middle Eastern food (the cuisines of the Eastern Mediterranean) and Indian food. Above all, there is a huge emphasis on the careful preparation of long-grain rice, usually with much more subtle spicing than that found in India and Pakistan. The rice is often cooked with potatoes or fruits.
Of course, Iranian rice (polo) is not easily found here, so we made do with tilda basmati. Washed multiple times, and soaked for hours, it was then boiled in salted water and cooked slowly on a bed of ghee in a heavy pot tightly sealed with towels to absorb the moisture. At the same time, we sauteed zereshk, barberries (above), in a mixture of ghee and sugar. The top part of the rice, the polo, gets mixed with the zereshk for an astoundingly sour, sweet and buttery confection that is the basis of the meal.
The bottom part of the rice forms a circular crust. You carefully separate this with a wooden spoon on all sides and then invert the pot to drop a (hopefully) circular crunchy, browned rice disc onto a plate. This salty, buttery rice crust is called tahdig. You just grab chunks of it with your hand and eat it like bread.
Along with some vegetables and pickles, this would have been a meal in itself, but we made chicken as well. Jujeh is the Persian word for chicken. We took Murray’s breasts, pounded them, cut them into chunks, and brined them for several hours. We then set them to marinate in the fridge overnight in lime juice, orange zest, garlic, saffron, yogurt and several cups of chopped onion.
We threaded the chicken pieces on to skewers and cooked them under the broiler for a few minutes, then roasted them. The result was astounding – intense sour lime and onion laced right through the kebabs, with a nice sear on the outside. The juice from the chicken was poured over the polo. We crunched on the tahdig. A honeyed, mellow 1990 Geschwister Erhard spätlese from Uva in Williamsburg complemented the food perfectly, along with Linda Jo Rizzo on the turntable.
These recipes were mainly based on Najmieh Bamanglij’s New Food Of Life, plus some experimentation.
Not trick-or-treating at the end of the month? No worries. Along his current route, Kurt Vile is making a stop in Dallas for a very special Halloween extravaganza. Dress up for KV & The Violators, The Aquaholics, and Giggle Party– All Ages (but more fun if you’re 21+) @ The Lounge on Elm Street. He will be playing plenty of tracks off his new record, Childish Prodigy, which will be available to purchase!
Hot off the recent Polaris win Fucked Up bring you Fucked Up Weekend 2009.
[IMAGE REMOVED AT METRIC'S REQUEST]
October 26, 29, 30 & 31
Advance tickets available at Hits and Misses, Soundscapes, and Rotate This.
Outside of Toronto contact fufest09@gmail.com for ticket orders.
FUCKED UP WEEKEND 2009
Monday October 26 LOVVERS (UK) VICIOUS CYCLE SCHOOL JERKS FIRST BASE Fest Pre-Party at The Garrison 1197 Dundas St. W. 9pm, $8 advance
Thursday October 29 THE BITTERS METZ MELIGROVE BAND FRANCE HAS THE BOMB (IL) LITTLE GIRLS Sneaky Dee’s 431 College St. 9pm, $8 advance
Friday October 30 CRO-MAGS jam (NY) FUCKED UP MIND ERASER (MA) RIVAL MOB (MA) WASTE MANAGEMENT (MA) FREE SPIRIT (MA) RAH BURNING LOVE Kathedral – ALL AGES 651 Queen St. W. 7pm, $22.50 advance
Friday October 30 RED MASS (MTL) TEEN ANGER THE BANG BANGS PRIMITIVE HANDS (MTL) Sneaky Dee’s 431 College St. 9pm, $8 advance
Friday Afterparty MOLESTED YOUTH MATURE SITUATIONS CAREER SUICIDE Rancho Relaxo 300 College St. 1am, $5
Saturday October 31 FUCKED UP IRON LUNG (WA) D.S.B. (Japan) BRUTAL KNIGHTS FORCE FED (PA) NOMOS (NY) Sneaky Dee’s 431 College St. 7pm, $18.50 advance
Saturday Afterparty MAD MEN OMEGAS (MTL) URBAN BLIGHT Rancho Relaxo 300 College St. 1am, $5
Citizens of the Twin Cities and environs are blessed with not one but two opportunities for live Yo La Tengo today. In addition to going to their show tonight at First Avenue (which you surely already planned on doing), you can catch an interview and live performance by Ira, Georgia & James on 89.3 The Current. Those of you not in the area only get the one live experience, and it can be had by clicking here to listen online. The fun starts at 6 PM EDT/5 PM CDT.
After selling out 4 Central Park shows in a flash last month, Pavement have confirmed they’ll be playing and curating an All Tomorrow’s Parties weekender, May 14-16, 2010 at the Butlin’s Holiday Centre in Minehead (UK), with tickets going on sale tomorrow at 10am UK time. Further dates in other global locales will be announced very soon. Who will get the call to play alongside Pavement at this historic event, you ask? Hard to say. We’ve got our own wishlist (Veruca Salt reunion, Uniform Choice acoustic set, Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts) but it’s not like anyone’s asking us to curate a multi-day festival. Not yet, anyway.
Kurt Vile is an evocative, textural young singer-songwriter from Philadelphia. He is already well known for his debut album, Constant Hitmaker, released on the tiny but historic Gulcher label, as well as a slew of singles and 12″es on labels from Woodsist to Mexican Summer.
His Matador debut, Childish Prodigy, is an altogether more serious affair. Opening with the pounding Hunchback, it continues through a varied set of tracks ranging from gorgeous little folk pieces (Overnite Religion) to all-out jams (Freak Train). The record has incredible depth and beauty to it – as well as sound “quality” all over the map, from lo-fi to hi-fi – and unlike so many albums today, rewards repeated listens.
The Breakfast at Sulimay’s folks as well as the team at United Way didn’t get Kurt at all, which can only be a good thing. Touchpoints range from Seger to Springsteen to Sonic Boom. See Kurt Vile with his Violators tour the US starting
Vinyl is RTI HQ-120 gram with MP3 coupon including 2 bonus tracks.
The fourth studio album from Mission Of Burma is The Sound The Speed The Light, a compact 12-song piece of guitar architecture in the tradition of their second album, Vs. It blasts out of the gate with the unusually tuneful 1, 2, 3, Partyy! (video debuting today – WATCH IT) and continues through moody ballads like Forget Yourself, Feed, Slow Faucet through to the volcanic energy of Good Cheer.
It’s two days after Boston City Council resolved that Sunday, October 4 was Mission Of Burma Day. Support these stalwarts of modern music, titans of our age, watch the new video below, and then buy the record.
And don’t forget, there’s an essential 7″ already out that contains 2 new songs that are conceptually part of the album, in the words of Roger Miller. It’s called Innermost, and you can find it on the Matador Store, as well as most of the fine retailers listed above.
For all of Matador’s upcoming releases, check the Release Schedule page.
From City Sonic, directed by Anita Doron. Hey, while we’re on the subject of terrific record stores, Austin’s Sound On Sound is closing it’s doors on Monday, October 12. Sure, they do that every night, but this time they’ll not open ‘em again. As such, there’s a rather big clearance sale going on and if you’re in the area, say for the Austin Record Convention this weekend, you’re well advised to bring your money. (google map)
Girls just added a couple of Southern California dates to their already epic tour itinerary (currently galavanting around Europe, followed immediately by criss-crossing the USA). To reflect Southern California vibrations the bands are traveling solely by surfboard and are being limited to a strict diet of Pollo Loco tacos. Sorry guys but we run a tight ship around here and no one said “making it” in the biz is EASY.
Fri Dec 4. The Loft @ UCSD San Diego, CA (w/The Morning Benders) Sat Dec 5 The Troubador, Los Angeles, CA (w/The Morning Benders) Sun Dec 6 Muddy Waters, Santa Barbara, CA (w/The Morning Benders
and the rest entirety of the epic US Tour! New Yorkers tickets for the Bowery show are already ALMOST SOLD OUT!!!!!
TOUR DATES November
02 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell¹s
03 Washington, DC Black Cat
04 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie
06 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
07 Boston, MA Great Scott
09 Montreal, QUE Il Motore
10 Toronto, ONT El Mocambo
12 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
13 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
14 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
17 Seattle, WA Nuemos
18 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
20 San Francisco, CA Swedish American Hall
21 San Francisco, CA Bottom Of The Hill
It’s a good week to be a Kurt Vile fan. Fresh from the weekend’s pair of Philly shows, Mr. Vile will be playing a solo acoustic set on WNYU’s New Afternoon Show starting at 4:30 PM Eastern. Tune in at 89.1 FM in New York, or online at wnyu.org.
October 4 is right around the corner, which means we’re just days away from Mission Of Burma sure-to-be-monumental show at MIT’s East Campus Courtyard. Yesterday we announced the winner of the Battle For Burma, New Haven, CT’s Eula, but there were still a few things left unsaid, and we’re going to say them now.
- Please note that there is NO on-site parking. If you have to drive there, you’re on your own parking the car. Obviously, we strongly encourage the use of mass transit.
- Show is rain or shine.
- Eula starts the show at 2:30.
- There is NO ALCOHOL ALLOWED at this show.
- Backpacks and coolers are likewise NOT ALLOWED so please don’t bring them.
- The fine folks at Newbury Comics will be at the show to sell the new Mission Of Burma album, The Sound The Speed The Light, two days before you can buy it in stores. You can also pre-order the record here if that’s more your style.
If you’re in the area, this is a can’t-miss show. See you there.
